The Bridge Between Us
by dreamer-girl-reana
Summary: Two friends, two stories, one epic adventure will bring them together and split them apart, but it’s only just the beginning. Summary is fail, just read it. OCxSebastian, OCxScar
1. Book 1, Ch 1

_Alright then...I've had this on my computer a while, and I figured I'd publish it. It will be a three part story, and the following three chapters are the complete epics of Book 1. Book 2 is in process of being written, and Book 3 is vaguely planned out. Anyways, I rather enjoyed writing it, so enjoy reading it!_

**Chapter 1: The Commission**

**Kade Cruz**

I sat at my desk, my fingers tapping away at the keyboard in front of me. The room was overly hot and sticky, and the sound of the computers around me buzzing was driving me mad. I stared at the computer screen in front of me and smiled. Someone had commented on my Youtube page!

"Wow the things people believe. He thinks I live in Peru, am 33, and am a model. Stupid!" I laughed as I typed a message on his page.

As I waited, I reached into my jean pocket and pulled out my new cell phone. I began typing messages a mile a minute and still glanced up at the screen waiting for my cyber friend to answer. I gazed down at my black fingernails and crinkled my brow. A piece had chipped off! I slammed my cell on the desk and began to curse. A message popped up on the screen of my computer. "So you live in Peru? I'm visiting right now, so where do you live?" my cyber friend asked.

I stared blankly at the screen, thinking of many things I could say.

The door opened slowly. I turned in my chair to see my best friend Briana standing in the doorway, holding a brown paper bag. "Having Youtube trouble I see? Nothing good will come from that you know." Briana said as she placed the bag on my desk. "Oh shut up! Nothing bad will happen. He thinks I live in friggin' Peru!" I snapped as I ran my hand through my spiky dark brown hair. She shrugged it off and sat in a chair next to me.

"How long have you been in here?" Briana asked as she pulled out a dirty looking handgun.

"Um, about 48 hours. I've been on Youtube and texting, my eyes are killing me," I laughed as I noticed yet another comment appear on the screen.

It read, "Hey babe what's up?"

I laughed and began typing my message; Briana laughed and got to her feet, holding the gun in her hand. Once I was done, I opened the brown bag to find a large salad waiting for me. "Thank God, food! How did you know I was hungry?" I said as I popped open the lid.

"You've been in here for 48 hours and haven't eaten so I guessed! Duh!" Briana said; she looked at the gun in her hand, and threw it on her desk next to mine. I watched her sit down at the desk and pull out a set of headphones plugged in to the computer. She logged on and began typing. I turned back towards my own computer to check my Youtube page to find that my favorite website was having trouble with the server. "Shoot!" I exclaimed as I hit the monitor.

"What?" Briana snorted as she turned to me.

"Youtube crashed! My life is on there! Fudge!" I screamed as I hit the keyboard. As I did, another piece of my nail polish broke off.

"Fantastic! I hate today," I mumbled as I grabbed my phone and flipped it open.

"Well why don't you get to work on that new program you have to write. They hired you a week ago and you still haven't done anything. Why do you think everyone hires me not you?" Briana said matter-of-factly.

I glared and went back to trying to make Youtube work.

6 hours later Briana's voice cut through the silence.

"I got it! I hacked into NASA!" Briana shouted as she jumped out of her chair.

"Oh, let me see!" I said as I raced over to her desk. As we gazed at the secret pages of NASA, my cell began to ring.

"Oh my gosh, maybe it's—"

"He's not going to call you back, stop dreaming that he will."

I glared at my best friend as I reached in my back pocket for my phone. I pressed the answer button and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I said as I paced back and forth, hoping it was the person I wanted to speak to.

"Hello, my name is Maxwell Stafford." A male's voice sounded from the other end. I glanced over at Briana, only to find her fixing the gun she had brought in earlier.

"Um...that's nice. What do you want?"

"I work for Mr. Charles Bishop Weyland. I'm calling to make a proposition. Mr. Weyland has taken an interest in you and your business partner, and would like to meet with you tomorrow."

Unsure of how to react to this new information I stuttered back, "Umm...t-that would be really c-cool?"

"Good. I'll send the chopper to pick you up in two minutes. Good bye."

The line went dead, and all I could do was stare off blankly. Briana cleared her throat, effectively getting my attention.

"So, who was it? Another stupid person trying to actually hire you?"

I glared back, "Actually, it was some guy who worked for Weyland, and he wants to meet us."

Her eyes widened, "Well what did you say?"

"Yes, duh. What do you think I was going to say, 'Thanks, but I would much rather stay here and sit around all day?' Hello! There are big bucks involved if it works out. God, use that big brain of yours."

Briana glared at me. She was about to speak, but the loud noise of a chopper landing not too far away cut her off.

"Well, that's our ride. Let's go!"

I walked over to a large desk directly behind mine, filled with my favorite tech toys. Grabbing a simple black backpack, which also had a protective case inside for my laptop, I jammed my things in.

"My laptop, my cell phone, my backup cell phone, my iPod, my camera, my nail polish, and some snacks."

I slung my bag over my shoulder and waited for Briana. She too had a desk identical to mine, only filled with tech toys and many weapons. Not just guns mind you, she fixed anything and everything she could get her hands on.

"Whatcha' gonna' pack?" I asked, smiling at myself.

"The usual...let's see, iPod, cell phone, my gun, and my Palmpilot."

She shoved the things she had just named into a bag identical to mine, only without the laptop case. Slinging it over her shoulder, we walked out to the chopper. The man who called me greeted us, and we sat down in our respective seats.

12 hours later, I looked out the window and panicked. "Briana, did you notice that we are currently flying over ice covered water?"

She looked out the window and shrugged, "Looks like Antarctica to me."

I was panicking now, I hated being cold. "How can you be so calm, what if we actually have to _stay_ here? I hate the cold, and there's like, no electricity."

Briana shook her head, "He's a billionaire. He probably has some secret hideout here. Chill out, were not going to die or anything."

Glaring at her, I turned my gaze back to the icy waters beneath us. Snuggling up to the blanket on top of me, I continued to glare out at the icy sea. Another 2 hours later, we landed on the top of a large cargo ship. Following Mr. Stafford, we met up with another small group of people, and he led us all into a large room. The room was filled with chairs and had a large picture projected onto one of the walls. From the looks of it, it was a picture taken by a satellite.

Briana sat down and said softly, "That looks like Antarctica."

I glared at her, I was cold and grumpy. "Does _everything_ look like Antarctica to you today?"

She glared back at me; I turned my gaze away from her. She always made me feel small when she glared at me. Mumbling something to herself, she pulled her long black hair up into a ponytail. Apparently, Mr. Stafford had started the meeting already, and was introducing Mr. Weyland.

He started giving some stupid speech, which of course I paid no attention to. Turning my cell on silent, I started playing games on it. I was off in my own little world until I heard someone talking. They had an obvious Italian accent. Looking up, I saw one of the hottest guys I had seen in a while. He was talking about the pyramid's features.

"Thank you Sebastian."

"Sebastian...cute name." I said quietly to myself as he resumed his seat. I caught his eye, but turned away--didn't want to look creepy. Before I knew what was happening, Mr. Stafford was leading us to our rooms. According to Briana, we had just lost our guide and were now royally screwed. This whole ordeal was quickly becoming one big mess. I wondered why we were here and silently scolded myself for not paying attention more.

Briana was lying on the top bunk in our room. I settled into the bottom bunk and quickly fell asleep; I was exhausted from that 14-hour copter ride. I woke up to the sound of voices outside the door.

"I'm really am glad you decided to stay Lexi," said a distinctly Scottish voice—Graeme.

"Thanks, but you should get some sleep. It's late and we're going to be leaving very early."

I stood up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Opening the door, I was greeted with the sight of Lexi, Graeme, and Sebastian.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to wake you up," said Graeme.

"It's ok. So you're staying?" I said to Lexi.

"Yes, you all stand a better chance with me than the guy Weyland wanted to hire as a replacement."

"Good, I'll have to tell Briana that we aren't royally screwed anymore."

Lexi smiled and left with Graeme, leaving me alone with Sebastian.

"I don't suppose that you'll be going to sleep again?" he said with his sexy Italian accent. I couldn't help but smile.

"No, I'm good until tomorrow, you?"

He returned my smile, "I'm still on a different time zone, so I'll be good until tomorrow as well. Want to go for a walk, it'll kill some time?"

I smiled even bigger, "Of course."

We climbed to the deck and walked all around the cargo ship. He told me about growing up in Italy, and he told me about his life as an archeologist. I told him about my job, what I did in my free-time, and some other facts about myself; I didn't mention my family or life when I was a kid. As we walked, our hands brushed every now and then. I was lost in memories, and didn't notice that he grabbed my hand until I saw the Northern Lights.

I felt a light prickling of warmth on my cheeks and was glad that my skin was dark enough to conceal it. We just stood there, on deck watching the Northern Lights illuminate the sky and holding hands. I must admit, I was in heaven. His hand was warm, and kept my unusually cold hand warm. I was so lost in my own little happy world, that I was paying no attention to the time.

"We should start getting ready, the suns rising."

I looked into the sky, and sure enough, the sun was just rising into the sky.

"Yea...I guess you're right. I had a nice time, thanks for keeping my company. It would have been extremely boring without someone else."

He smiled, and I could have sworn I saw his cheeks tint red, "No, thank you. It was definitely fun. I'll see you when we leave?"

"Definitely, I'll meet you back here in an hour."

He smiled, and let go of my hand. Turning he walked back under, most likely to get ready to leave. Following suite, I headed back to my room. As soon as I opened the door, Briana snapped at me.

"Where in God's name have you been all night? I was waiting for you, but you never came back!"

"Sorry, chill out Briana. I was walking around because I wasn't tired. Remember, I fell asleep as soon as we got in."

She grunted in response, and went back to messing with her gun. As I started double-checking everything, she said something totally out of the blue.

"Did you have fun with Sebastian?"

I dropped my bag and spun around, "What's that supposed to mean?"

She smirked, "Nothing, just don't let him get in the way. This is a job, not a vacation."

I chose to ignore her comment and went back to packing. An hour and a half later I was walking with Sebastian and Briana to the trucks that would take us to the site. The ride there was silent; everyone was lost in his or her own worlds. Twenty minutes passed before they stopped. The location where the team was going to drill was dismal-an abandoned whaling station.

"Great, could it have been any creepier?" I muttered angrily.

"Don't worry; I'm sure Sebastian will protect you." Briana said, clearly trying to tease me.

Again, I ignored her comment and followed Sebastian and Alexa. After all, one of her stupid rules was never go anywhere alone. When I turned around to make a snide comment to Briana, I froze. She was nowhere in sight. Completely forgetting about the rules and the mini-feud we were having I bolted back towards where I had last seen her. I lit a flare and looked in all the close buildings, paying no attention to the cold that was slowly numbing my fingers and toes. I didn't know how long I was looking, but before long I was exhausted. I was cold, tired, and panicking because I couldn't find Briana. I entered yet another building and lit my fourth flare. If I didn't find her soon, I'd be out of flares; and I seriously didn't want to be alone in an abandoned whaling station with no light source. Hearing movement, I walked farther into the building. It looked like where the whalers ate.

"What are you doing here Kade?"

I spun around and saw Briana standing in the doorway, holding an unlit flare. I dropped my light source and ran over, hugging her tightly.

"God, Briana, you gave me a heart attack. I looked back and you were gone. I thought you were following me!"

"I thought _you_ were following _me_. I went off to see what they found. It was very cool. It's a tunnel drilled in 24 hours, at a perfect 30-degree angle, and it goes all the way down to the pyramid. We're going down in ten minutes, I was looking for you."

I smiled and let Briana lead me to the site of the mysterious tunnel. Lexi briefed us on how to properly use the equipment down to the pyramid and safety precautions. Once we were all hooked up, Lexi started going down. I was concentrating on not slipping or losing my grip. All of a sudden I heard shouting from up ahead. Looking up, I saw someone sliding down the tunnel. I gasped when I realized it was Weyland. He came closer; getting a good grip on my lead, I leaned out and stretched my arm out. He was sliding fast, and people tried in vain to stop him. As he slid by, I grabbed his arm. What I didn't take into account was that his force would knock me down, which it did. I landed hard on my stomach and gasped as the wind was knocked out of me. I saw that Lexi had managed to stop Weyland and relaxed. Sebastian reached me in no time and helped me stand up. I smiled and thanked him, before we continued on down. It was a good fifteen minutes before we reached the end. By then some of the team had already set up lights and equipment, one of them being Briana.

"Overachiever..." I muttered to myself, but somehow she managed to hear.

"Lazy butt." She growled back. I swear, sometimes she could be so aggressive, she would fit right in with a killing-oriented society--too bad ours wasn't one. It was weird how violent her imagination was. We stood at the edge of a large ledge and Lexi shot a flare into the air. It illuminated a huge pyramid and I heard Sebastian murmur, "It's beautiful..."

Wasting no time, we headed to the pyramid and began the climb to reach the entrance. It took much less time to reach the pyramid then it took to get down the tunnel, but it was still longer than I would have liked. By the time we reached the top, my legs were sore. I looked over and saw Briana examining one of the statues.

"Come on Briana, let's go."

She looked up and nodded, following the group into the pyramid. Our adventure was about to begin.


	2. Book 1, Ch 2

**Chapter 2: Let the Games Begin**

**Briana Mars**

I stood just inside the pyramid, looking at the walls. Seeing as my translating abilities were extremely minimal, I looked at the pictures carved into the wall. They depicted two creatures, obviously not human, fighting each other. One was shaped like a large human, while the other was more reminiscent of a snake-type creature. Hearing something moving, I looked at the floor only to see a stone tile sink into the floor. I was somewhat worried, considering moving tiles were definitely not a normal trait of a pyramid.

Deciding to put the thought aside, I continued onwards, following the group. The last thing I wanted was to get lost in this giant structure. Before long, we were entering the first room. Already, Sebastian was examining the structure, finding clues as to what it was. Frankly, it would take an idiot to not know what the room was, a sacrificial chamber. It had all the qualifications: skeleton remains of humans who were bejeweled, places for the sacrifices to lie, and a drain of sorts in the middle for the blood; or so I assumed.

Mr. Stafford decided that a few of us would stay behind, while the rest continued on. Kade walked next to Sebastian, who was next to Alexa, and I followed behind them. We followed Alexa's heading and after a few minutes we reached the room directly under the sacrificial chamber. In the center of the room, pushed against the wall was a large stone sarcophagus. According to Sebastian's theory, if we set the date on the lid to toady, the sarcophagus would open. I wasn't so sure that we wanted to see what was in there, but I had no real choice in the matter. I watched as Sebastian set in the date and the sarcophagus slid open. I turned to see Kade standing off to the side, fiddling with her phone. She probably didn't have any bars. Shaking my head I peered into the sarcophagus and gasped. Sitting inside the stone case was not body, but three guns. I knew they were guns, and I knew that whomever they belonged to, they were extremely advanced. Stafford started reaching into the case when I spoke, "I don't advise taking those."

He looked at me and sneered, "Oh, and since when were you the archaeologist."

"I wouldn't doubt her, she knows her stuff," said Kade, who had somehow gotten up and walked over without anyone noticing. I watched and she looked at Sebastian with this strange lovesick puppy look. I shook my head and stared Stafford down. He merely laughed.

"I'm telling you, nothing good can come of taking weapons that are not yours; more or less not from this world."

He completely ignored me, and two of his colleagues grabbed the guns. As soon as the third gun was removed the sarcophagus slammed shut. The ground shook as all the doors in the room slid shut. One of the walls shifted, instead changing into stairs leading down into the pyramid. Suddenly, screams pierced the silence. They were coming from the above room, the sacrificial chamber. Everyone began desperately to contact anyone who was up there, but they got no response.

I turned to see Kade, still fiddling with her phone, but I knew she was freaking out. She hated being underground in the dark. Lexi started planning how to get back to the surface and get as many people from the team out when I heard the familiar click of guns being loaded.

"What are you doing?" asked Lexi.

"My job, yours is done," replied Stafford. I knew he was a slime ball from the beginning. Tuning them out I tried to figure out what we were going to do. Since everyone began to enter the doorway that had appeared, I assumed we were going to do the only thing we could--try. It was quiet except for the coughing of Mr. Weyland. I wondered why Lexi let him come along. He was a frail, old, sick man. He would only hinder our progress. We entered a hallway, filled with nooks and statues. Everyone was on edge, especially when they saw a carving on the wall. It depicted the humanoid creatures, wearing the guns they had just found.

"We worshipped these things?" said Kade.

"According to these pictures and hieroglyphs, yes, we did. The things you took from the sarcophagus seem to be their weapons."

Kade turned to look at me, "You knew that, didn't you?"

I smirked, "Of course I did. I can't believe that the weapons experts Weyland hired didn't notice it too. They must not be very good."

I laughed at the expressions on my team's faces. It wasn't my fault they were so thick-headed. Lexi got us moving again, but a strange noise had everyone on edge. One of the teammates had disappeared, and then chaos was unleashed. People started shooting at shadows, but the craziest thing was they would get hit back, with spears. People were dying, panicking, screaming. Suddenly the ground shook and the pyramid began to shift. One man fell into the floor, and two were separated from us.

I looked around to see that I was with Kade, Sebastian, Weyland, Alexa, and Stafford. Kade was clinging to Sebastian's arm. His watch started beeping, and he started to talk quietly to Lexi. Moments later the pyramid shifted again, giving us a new path to follow. Stafford went first, followed by the rest of us.

We entered another room, Weyland handed the gun over to Lexi. Suddenly, a net came out of nowhere, trapping Stafford. An invisible creature had shot it out. Kade panicked as soon as Sebastian was lifted from the ground. The air before him shimmered and the creature from the pictures materialized. He was going to kill Sebastian.

I looked around for my pack, which had slipped off in the chaos, and silently cursed myself for dropping it. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kade pick up a rock from the floor. She aimed for the creature and threw it. It hit him in the leg and he turned his head to look at her. Grabbing his spear, he threw it into Strafford's body, killing him instantly; though the net was doing it just as well. The creature dropped Sebastian and turned towards Kade. Before he could move, another invisible creature was speared in the middle by the tail of another creature. The other alien lifted its victim into the air and looked at it, eye to eye. The alien opened its mouth and an inner mouth shot out at lightning speed, piercing the creature's skull and killing him instantly.

I felt my heart pounding in my chest, and sweat prickling on my brow. The visible creature charged the alien and began fighting it to the death. For a moment I thought that the creature was a goner, but he came back. Before the fight could continue, we were herded into another room.

Lexi and Sebastian carried Weyland up the stairs as Kade and I came up behind. Another creature came in, and Sebastian told us to leave. Weyland asked to be left behind, and Lexi did. I thought it was pretty low of her to leave behind a sick, old, defenseless man. As Kade, clinging to Sebastian's arm, Sebastian and Lexi continued on, I stayed at the doorway. I wanted to see how the creature would react to Weyland. He grabbed him by the neck and just looked at him. I gulped, and my heart beat loudly against my chest. After a moment, the creature dropped Weyland and continued towards me. This seemed to upset Weyland and I watched as he grabbed a flare and his breather.

"Don't do it Weyland, just leave!" I murmured.

Sure enough, he lit the flare and used his breather to create a blowtorch effect. The flames reached the back of the creature, which froze. When the flames died down, it spun around roaring. I shook my head; Weyland just had to make a show. Extending the blades attached to his wrists, the creature ran Weyland through. I shook my head and ran ahead to catch up to the group. Just as I stepped into the hallway, Sebastian's watch started beeping. Immediately Kade's head swiveled around, looking for what was about to change. As soon as the floor beneath me started rising I bolted out with Kade close behind me. Jumping into the next hallway I made it into the next room. Looking back I saw Sebastian lift Lexi up into the hallway. I thought he wasn't going to make it he had so little space to move in, but he made it. He flew backwards, right into Kade's arms. Though you couldn't see, I knew she was blushing. As Kade made sure Sebastian was alright, Lexi watched the creature through a slot in the wall. Meanwhile, I pulled out my gun and loaded it. Sebastian started talking about something, though I wasn't paying attention.

I looked up to the ceiling and started translating the hieroglyphs. It told of the creature's origins. Apparently, they had come here when humans were new to the planet and taught us to build. We worshipped them as gods, and this pyramid was for some sort of right-of-passage for them to become hunters. Those strange serpent-aliens were their prey, and we were their breeding grounds. I shook my head, and turned to the group. Sebastian had just told them the story I was reading on the ceiling.

"You have to give them their guns back," I said.

"Are you friggin' crazy?" screamed Kade.

"I agree…they'll kill us in an instant."

Lexi looked at me, "I think she's right. This pyramid is like a prison. We took the guards guns and now the prisoners are running free. To restore order, the guards need their guns. When that door opens, were going to give that creature his gun back."

Everyone agreed. We listened to the silence, until Sebastian's watch beeped. The room was tense, anticipating the door to open, but instead a piece of the wall moved aside. Everyone let out their bated breath and headed to the door. We walked quietly through the hallway. Turning a corner, my eyes locked onto a spiked tail. An alien dropped from the ceiling and started running towards us. Turning towards the nearest way out, we all sprinted away as fast as we could. Up ahead was a bridge with a piece missing in the middle. Sebastian jumped the gap and landed on the other side. When Kade reached the gap, she jumped and almost missed the ledge. She grabbed hold of the bricks, which crumbled and fell. Letting out a piercing scream, she frantically reached for anything to save herself with. She started falling, but was grabbed by Sebastian, who lifted her up, onto the ledge. I saw another alien emerge from behind Sebastian and grab him, dragging him off. Kade screamed again, reaching out to try and save him. I saw his bottle cap necklace on the ground and watched as Kade picked it up and tied it around her neck. She looked up and shouted over, "I'm going to find him. If you need me, call me. I hope I'll see you two again."

Before I could protest, she ran off in the direction the alien had gone.

"Kade, get back here! Where on earth are you going you dummy, think!"

It was pointless; she had run off and left me with Lexi. Lexi turned to me and spoke quickly, "I'm going to go too. Sebastian could save us all. I'll find you again."

She took a running start and jumped. Landing with a thud on the other side, she stood up and ran a different way. I was about to shout something cruel at her, but the sounds of something approaching got me jumping over the ledge. Landing safely, I saw that Lexi had dropped her bag. Picking it up, I went the opposite way of the two girls, trying to find some sort of escape. I walked straight ahead, going through a hallway. At the end there was a small area with more hallways. Nooks on the wall had human skeletons hidden inside. It was utterly silent, which was unnerving. Swallowing hard, I did a 180 and came face-to-face with the creature that had killed Weyland. He extended his spear and growled, getting into an attacking position.

"Wait!" I shouted, "I have what you want," I slid Lexi's backpack towards him, "take them, they're yours. We had no right to steal them."

He cocked his head, but nonetheless walked forward and snatched up the bag. Before he could do anything though, an alien came up behind him.

"Look!" I shouted. Maybe if I helped him, I would appeal to his better nature and he wouldn't kill me. They started fighting and the creature was thrown back into a wall. Grabbing the nearest sharp object, I threw it as hard as I could at the alien's head. It snapped its head around and screamed—it was pissed. Seeing the creature's spear on the ground, I picked it up only to be knocked into the wall by the alien. It was going to kill me, unless I killed it first. Reacting as fast as I could, I embedded the spear into its chest. It screamed and thrashed around violently, but I kept the spear where it was. It tried to pierce my skull with its disgusting little inner-mouth, but couldn't reach. Behind it, the creature stood up and looked strangely at me. Deciding the alien was finally dead, I shoved it away from me, not wanting it on me anymore. I felt a hot spot on my forehead, and looked up. There were three small lasers pointing at my forehead. I knew immediately what they were—the laser target of a gun. I looked up and met the gaze of the creature who I had given the gun to. My eyes focused on the movement behind him on the ceiling.

Sure enough, there were more aliens. He turned around and started using his new weapon to blast the aliens into alien chunks. Before he could kill all of the ugly creatures, they looked up, and then ran away. The creature scanned the area, to make sure that there were no more of the aliens left. Dislodging his spear from the alien I had killed, he started to walk away. I jumped to my feet and followed him, shouting, "Don't you dare just leave me here, I'm coming with you!"

He abruptly turned to me and roared loudly in my face. Normally it would have scared the pants off me, but my nerves were totally shot—I didn't even flinch. From what I could tell, he was slightly impressed. Looking at the dead alien, he grabbed a knife and started to cut off the top of the alien's head. I wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but as long as he wasn't going to kill me, I was happy.

Once he had separated the shiny black piece of the aliens head he ripped off one of its fingers. He motioned for me to come closer, which I did. He squeezed the finger until a few drops of neon green blood splattered onto the black part of its skull—nothing happened. Moving his hand, he let the blood splatter on the floor. Immediately it started to smoke and burn through the solid stone.

"Their blood is acid?"

He must have understood, because he nodded.

"And that shell is immune to the acid blood?"

Again, he nodded. Continuing on, he fashioned me a spear using metal string, a stick, and the pointy end of the alien's tail. I grabbed my new defensive tool and weapon and looked up at him. He was at least a foot and a half taller than I, which made him at least about 7 ½ feet tall. He nodded, and we headed off to find the rest of my group—at least I hoped so.


	3. Book 1, Ch 3

**Chapter 3: Goodbyes**

**Kade Cruz**

As I ran to find Sebastian, my head was spinning with fear. My heart felt as if it would burst out of my chest at any moment.

I came to a dark room, greenish yellow goo covered the walls and little eggs covered the floor. I tried as hard as I could not to scream. I heard a yelp come from behind me, I turned.

"Oh my god!" I yelled.

Sebastian was pressed up against the wall, the goo covering him. His eyes widened when he saw me, sending butterflies through my stomach.

"Get me out of here!" he yelled as he turned in his confinement.

"Alright I'm coming!"

I needed a weapon to get him out of here; the goo was too hard for me to pull off by hand. I scanned the room for any weapon. As I did Sebastian kept saying my name over and over again.

I whipped around, "What?"

His eyes were over my head, gazing at something else. A screeching sound echoed off the walls. I turned to see the eggs bubbling. Aliens were trying to be set free from their eggs. I knew from what Briana had told me that they sucked onto your face and planted an egg inside you.

"We're screwed!" I moaned as I searched around the room for something I could use against them.

"Kade get my gun from my pocket!" Sebastian yelled when I turned to him.

"Which pocket?" I said as I came up to him.

"My back pocket! Now go quickly!"

I smiled as I reached in his back pocket and felt around for the gun. Once I grasped it I spun around just in time to fire a bullet at a face hugger. It exploded in front of me, splattering green blood everywhere.

"Ok get me out of here!" Sebastian said.

I turned and shot a hole in the goo. I pulled at the hole, feeling the slimy substance run down my arm.

"Kade there are more of them!" he yelled.

I turned around and began shooting at the many aliens who were lunging at me. As I did so I had my right arm pulling at the goo. I was freaking out enough as it is, when my cell began to ring. "Oh hell no!" I screamed as I reached into my pocket to grab the cell. I fumbled at I continued to shoot. I pressed my Bluetooth headset and yelled, "Hello!"

I heard Briana's voice on the other end. "Kade where are you?" she said as I dodged an alien. "I'm busy right now, Sebastian can you get out?" I said to Briana and then to Sebastian.

"Yeah if you pull a little harder!" he said.

"Kade what's going on?"

"I'm trying to get Sebastian out, trying to kill all the aliens, and right now I'm in big trouble because my gun is almost out!"

My heart was bouncing out of my chest. I aimed my gun at a bubbling egg and was about to shoot when I heard a _click_ of my gun.

"No!" I yelled as I continued to press the trigger. The alien burst from the egg and was heading straight for me.

"Kade!" Sebastian yelled.

All of a sudden the face hugger exploded and fell to the floor. Briana stood in front of me, a staff of some sort in her hand.

**Briana Mars**

I hung up the phone and started sprinting. My legs were pumping fast, and my heart beat wildly against my ribcage. I was sure it would burst soon. I felt myself start running even faster as the adrenaline kicked in and spread throughout my body. I had to get to Kade, or she was going to be playing host to an alien very soon. Without thinking, I ran into the nearest room. It was slimy, green, and full of eggs. Most of them were open, and empty, but there was at least ten left that were still closed up. Gripping my spear tightly, I watched as the one nearest to Kade opened. Something that looked reminiscent of a tailed-spider shot out. As it soared through the air, I brought my spear down swiftly. Kade's face was priceless as she realized that she wasn't going to die. It was an odd mixture of shock and happiness. I hoped I'd never see it again, as it was slightly disturbing to see on my closest friend's face.

"What the hell is that?" exclaimed Kade, seeing my spear.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm going to go check on something. Kill the rest of those eggs before they hatch, and for god's sake, get Sebastian out of there."

Kade pouted, "I'd love to, but seeing as my gun just ran out that's going to be a problem for me."

Grabbing a gun lodged in the wall, I tossed it back to her.

"There, now get working."

She rolled her eyes and started to shoot the eggs. I walked out of the room, and I was immediately greeted by the sight of the creature standing there. He watched my every move. It was a little creepy, I must admit. I saw another gooey green room and went in. I gasped, seeing that it was absolutely filled with eggs that hadn't hatched.

"Hey, you might want to look at this." I said, hoping that the creature would come in and take care of them.

Sure enough, he did come in. He got tense as soon as he saw the eggs. Without waiting, I started spearing them with my makeshift spear. The creature joined in, stabbing them with his spear. As soon as they were all dead, we headed back to the room where Kade and Sebastian were. Before we entered the room, I stopped the creature. I wanted to do a little spying.

Kade was cracking the hardened goo and tugging on Sebastian's arm. Finally he broke free and landed on top of Kade, effectively knocking her over. She landed flat on her back, with Sebastian on top of her holding himself up with his hands, placed on either side of her head. She lay there, staring up into his warm brown eyes that sparkled whenever he saw her. Ever so gently, she lifted her head up, bringing her face closer to Sebastian's. He leaned in and pressed his cold lips against hers. Although they were somewhat wet and cold due to his recent situation, Kade smiled into the kiss. She had wanted to do that for some time. They broke the kiss, and sat up. Sebastian stood and held out his hand, which she gladly took. She hoisted herself up and looked Sebastian in the eyes.

"You saved my life." He said, voice full of emotion,

"You saved mine, I owed you." Kade replied quietly.

Sebastian's face contorted, it looked as though he was torn between two things to say.

"Kade...I, well...um, I'm not really sure I should tell you this now....but Kade, I think I'm falling in love with you."

My eyes widened, did he really just tell her that? Kade's lips pulled up into a smile, possibly the biggest smile I had ever seen her wear.

"Really, truly?" she said, "Because I think I'm falling in love with you too."

Her statement obviously made Sebastian bold. Without hesitation, he grabbed her head and kissed her forcefully on the mouth. She was so shocked; it took her a moment before she responded. Sebastian moved his lips against hers, and she returned the movement so that they were moving in harmony. After a few moments he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, a silent plea for entrance. Thinking for only a split second, she opened her lips allowing him access to her mouth. Immediately, Sebastian slipped his tongue into Kade's mouth and began exploring. Kade smiled and made a small giggle at the bottom of her throat as he kissed her. His hand went behind her neck and nuzzled her softly.

I watched in horror, and forced back the bile rising in the back of my throat. I couldn't stand it. I stood up and walked into the center of the room. "Dear lord, get a friggin' room, and don't forget to always use protection."

"What!?" screamed Kade, clearly pissed at me for ruining her romantic moment with Sebastian.

"Sorry, but in case you've forgotten, were trapped inside a pyramid that's going to reconfigure in about two minutes. We've lost Alexa, and we still have to do something about Mr. Creature over here."

He growled, somehow knowing I was talking about him. Once everyone was ready Sebastian and Kade started walking back towards the entrance. I was about to follow when I caught sight of the creature, who I had nicknamed Scar for his sign on his helmet, typing on his wrist communicator. He looked up and noticed me watching him. He pointed to the communicator and made a fist. He opened it quickly, flaring out his fingers.

"It's a bomb?" I asked, not totally sure of his hand gesture.

He just nodded and detached the bomb, throwing it into the nest.

"I hope they all die." I practically growled. He grabbed my arm and started running in the direction of the entrance—he was definitely in a hurry to get away from that bomb. We reached the sled that brought equipment down the tunnel. It was large enough to hold two, maybe three, people. I saw Kade practically punching the keypad that would release the sled.

"What's wrong?" I asked, somewhat afraid of what her answer would be.

"It's jammed; it won't let my put in the password. I'm going to have to hack it."

I nodded, "Get to work. Scar over here set a bomb that's going to go off soon."

Sebastian looked at me strangely, "Scar? You gave that _thing_ a name?"

I merely glared at him. He gulped and turned his attention to his lover. Kade was attacking the keys on her keyboard. Sweat was forming on her brow as she continued to furiously key at her laptop. From the pyramid emerged a clearly human figure. Once it saw us it sprinted down the stairs and over to us—it was Lexi.

"Thank god you made it! I was starting to worry about you. What happened to those stupid rules of yours?"

She shook her head, "Why are we leaving? All of them are dead, right?"

I laughed. It was cold and cruel. "Are you stupid? There's a nest of eggs, and somewhere there's still some sort of alpha that's laying all these darn eggs. They're far from dead." Venom all but dripped off my words. I must admit, my patience for our guide was officially a negative number. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was growing impatient with the naïve guide, because Scar started growling at her.

"Got it! Everyone pile on, we've got five minutes before this thing becomes a rocket to the surface."

Kade lay down on the side of the sled, and Sebastian lay on top of her, protecting her and conserving space for Scar and I, not to mention Lexi. Turning my gaze to the pyramid, I saw Lexi standing at the edge of the ledge looking out at the pyramid. I was about to tell her to hurry it up when I heard Scar roar.

Spinning around, I saw him fighting off a couple of aliens. "You just won't die will you?" I muttered angrily to myself. Grabbing the makeshift spear Scar gave me I approached the fighting aliens. I knocked the one off Scar and stabbed him in the head, making sure he wouldn't be coming back to play again. Hearing a screech, I turned around just in time to duck away from another alien's deadly tail. I knocked it out of the way, and turned to make sure they weren't bothering Kade or Sebastian. Instead, I was met with the sight of the two making out on the sled.

"Kade, Sebastian! Friggin' save that till were--" I was cut off when the pointy tail of an alien smacked me across the chest and sent me flying backwards into a solid stone wall. My chest ached horribly, I couldn't breathe. It felt like a rib was broken, maybe more than one. There was an annoying pounding in my head and a something warm trickling down the side of my face—blood. I slowly stood up, my body screaming at me not to. Kade caught sight of me and shrieked, "Briana! What happened?"

I waved her off, ignoring her question, too sore to answer. I wiped the small trickle of blood off my face and turned towards Scar. There was only one alien left, and by the looks of it was about to kill Scar. Adrenaline kicking in, I sprinted over with a speed that surprised myself. Grabbing my spear on the way I knocked the alien off with all the force that I could muster. Embedding the spear in its throat I watched as it bled to death, spraying its acidic blood over the stone ground. I walked over to Scar and touched his mask, wanting to make sure he was still conscious. Sure enough, he sat up as soon as my hand touched his mark. We walked over to the sled, knowing we had minimal time to get on. We decided the best way for us all to fit was for me to lie on the bottom underneath Scar; so I lay down, gripping the bar in front tightly. I felt Scar gently lay on top of me and grab the bar attached to the sled.

"Lexi, come on! I can't choose when this thing releases. You have to get over here, now!" shouted Kade from underneath Sebastian. Just before Lexi reached the sled, it shot off. Sebastian reached back for her, shouting at her to reach, but it was no use. As soon as we took off, the bomb inside the pyramid detonated destroying everything and everyone, including Lexi.

Once we reached the beginning of the tunnel, the sled went flying through the air. It landed a ways away from where the explosion was sucking in part of the whaling town. Immediately taking control, I turned to Kade and Sebastian, who was still weak from his near death experience.

"Kade, I want you and Sebastian to find someplace safe and stay there. Get a signal and send a message to the ship. Tell them we're alive and need a copter to meet us here. Send them our coordinates, alright?"

Kade nodded and walked away towards the remains of the whaling station.

**Kade Cruz**

I walked towards the whaling station, Sebastian not that far behind me. I picked a random building and went in. I set up my laptop and started sending out the signal, hoping that someone would receive it soon—I was freezing. My toes and fingers were completely numb, and it didn't help that my jacket was somewhere in the pyramid. Sebastian entered the building and joined me on the floor.

Sensing that I was cold, he wrapped me in his strong, warm embrace. I sighed and snuggled closer to him. I always felt so safe when I was around him. He lowered his head and nuzzled my neck with his face. I giggled like a schoolgirl; it seemed to be a problem of mine, along with screaming. He gently began sucking on my neck, trying to find my sensitive spot. It didn't take him long to find it, but I tried to hide it from him—he saw right through it. He nipped the spot gently and continued sucking. I couldn't help it, and I let out a little moan which made him smirk, and only encouraged him. As he continued sucking my neck, he ran his hands up and down my sides. I shivered, not because of the cold but because of something else. Again, this made him smirk and encouraged him. Still sucking on my neck, he moved one hand to my back and traced his fingers up and down my spine. It felt wonderful. My heart was beating against my ribcage and my cheeks flushed. I couldn't believe Sebastian, this was definitely a new side of him, and I admit, I liked it—a lot. Still sucking on my neck he pushed me over onto the ground and lay on top of me. He occupied his hands by running them up and down my arms and sides. I moaned again, instead of smiling and continuing, he lifted up his head and kissed me. He ran his tongue across my lip and I gladly let him in. His tongue roamed my mouth and his hands continued running over my arms and sides. Secretly, I hoped that the people on the boat took a while to get the signal—more time for Sebastian and me. He adjusted his legs so that he was straddling my waist and sat up. As quickly as he could, he unzipped his jacket. He looked down and me, his eyes were filled with love and something else—lust. Leaning back down his planted little butterfly kisses along my jaw line and down my throat. As he continued planting his little Italian butterfly kisses along my neck and jaw he started unbuttoning my shirt. I silently cursed myself for not at least making an attempt to stop him, but then again I wasn't one to complain. Quickly disposing of my shirt he started planting his little Italian butterfly kisses on my stomach. Slowly, he reached his hands behind my back. His hand was on the clasp of my bra when...beep!

I jumped up, totally shocked, knocking over Sebastian in the process, and ran over. Someone on the ship had gotten our signal and was sending the chopper out to get us. I squealed happily and quickly buttoned up my shirt, which was now cold as ice, compliments of Sebastian and his hormones. Running over to Sebastian I gave him a peck on the lips and hugged him tightly. We had survived this nightmare and we were going to go home.

"We have to go tell Briana the news! She's going to be so happy!"

Sebastian laughed and nodded. As we were leaving I heard the familiar screech of an alien, only much louder. Fearing the worst I bolted towards where Briana was, Sebastian keeping the same pace a few steps behind me. When I arrived I almost passed out. There, fighting Briana and the creature she had named Scar, was a giant alien.

"That must be the queen...oh my god, she's going to die."

**Briana Mars**

Kade and Sebastian walked off towards the remains of the whaling station. I heard a strange noise, reminiscent of purring coming from behind me. Turning around I realized that Scar was...purring? I looked up at him, and I thought for a moment that if I could see his eyes that he was looking directly at me. His hand reached up and unhooked two tubes, hissing as they were removed from his mask. Placing a hand on either side of his face, he removed his mask.

I must say, I was prepared for some horribly ugly creature with five eyes and antenna, so compared to the picture my imagination had painted he looked fairly average. He had a mouth, covered in four pointed mandibles. His skin was green with black spots and he actually looked very cool. I noticed there was a scar identical to the one on his helmet, only burned into his skin. Out of nowhere, he let out a loud roar—right in my face. My nerves were so shot that I didn't even blink—great, I bet I have permanent damage.

Grabbing an alien finger from off his belt he held it up. I knew exactly what he was going to do. Squeezing my eyes shut I turned my right cheek towards him. As soon as the tip of the finger touched my skin I clenched my jaw. It felt like the intensity of a thousand suns had somehow been condensed into that one finger and was now burning through my skin.

I unclenched my eyes and looked up at Scar. He had golden eyes, which was quite surprising, but what was even more amazing was that he looked...concerned?

"I'm ok, it just hurt a little."

He nodded in understanding. I heard something that sounded like ice cracking and my eyes focused on the icy rubble behind Scar, which had now started to move. The muffled scream of an alien pierced the otherwise quiet air. I swallowed hard, whatever was under there must be strong if its scream had reached the surface. The chunks of ice went flying, and I covered my head in an attempt to protect myself. When the debris settled, there, standing right behind Scar was a huge alien. It must be the leader, or queen, or whatever on earth they called it.

With a speed that I wished I had, Scar grabbed his mask and spear. Placing the mask back on his face, he got into a defensive crouch and extended his wrist blades. I turned to try and find my spear, but I had been buried by some flying debris. The alien must have realized that I, being defenseless, would be the easiest to kill—so it started to charge me.

Turning to the nearest pile of debris, I stuck my hand into it, hoping desperately to find my spear. My fingers brushed against something razor sharp. Ignoring the fact that I was probably going to start bleeding like crazy, I grabbed whatever I had felt and pulled as hard as I could. I had managed to find my spear, but the question now was if I could manage to keep it from slipping in my now bloody grip. I had sliced my hand pretty good, and blood was trickling down fairly quickly.

Not having much time to react, I did what came to me first. I threw that spear as hard as I could, and it lodged itself in the aliens' chest. It let out a piercing scream of pain and then fell down. I saw Scar grab a chain that was attached to the alien and drag it over to a large storage tank. Catching sight of another chain attached to the tank I realized what he was doing.

I ran over and helped pull the alien, though I don't think that I helped too much. Scar managed to attach the two chains, but the alien would have none of that. It got up and started swiping at him, trying to do some damage and break the chain. After a few swipes, it must have gotten tired of trying and turned its attention back to me—fan-flippin-tastic. I stepped back a little, but the alien kept tugging. It actually was a good thing that it was rocking the tank, because by the looks of it, it was about to fall off and bring the alien to the depths of the frigid sea. Its attacks got closer and closer to me, and I started to get nervous. All of a sudden, I heard Kade's voice.

"That must be the queen...oh my god, she's going to die."

"Thanks..." I muttered to myself.

I was so caught up with the fact that now Kade was here, I didn't realize that the alien's tail was whipping towards me.

"BRIANA!" shouted Kade and Sebastian.

I heard Scar roar and turned just in time to see the alien's tail whipping towards me. It hit me square across my ribcage, and I swear I heard something snap. Pain exploded in my chest and I screamed as I went flying through the air. I heard another roar from Scar, only it sounded a lot angrier than the first. Suddenly something flat and hard collided with my back. My head snapped back due to the force and hit the wall behind me with such strength that my eyesight went black. I started panicking—my chest was screaming in agony, my back was sore, and pain was blooming in my head. I moaned in anguish, and blinked rapidly, hoping that it would fix my eyes.

The sounds of fighting continued in the background, and I knew that Scar was winning. Feeling someone's hand on my arm I swiveled my head.

"Kade?" I asked quietly.

"You ok, Briana? You hit that wall pretty hard."

"Yea....I'm ok, just in pain..." I said, hoping that she wouldn't notice that I was probably looking past her. Her speaking hurt my head, badly.

"Well, you don't look okay, and you aren't looking in my direction, but I have to tell you that the copter is going to be here soon. Do you want—"

Before she could finish, the scream of the alien queen pierced my ears. I clutched my head between my hands and screamed. Oh dear god, the pain.

"Ah! Make it stop!" I screamed. Kade's hands covered my ears, in an attempt to protect them a little. The screaming of the alien finally stopped, and my breathing returned to normal. My head was pounding, it was worse than before. Kade gasped and shuffled away from me. I opened my eyes and moved them around, trying to see again.

"What, what is it, Kade?"

I got no response, which made me extremely nervous. I felt someone's finger brush my cheek. They didn't feel quite...normal.

"Scar?" I asked quietly. I heard that purring and some sort of clicking noise, and I knew that it was Scar. He gently picked me up and started walking somewhere. Under normal circumstances, I would be pretty uncooperative, but I was too tired to care. I closed my eyes, figuring that since I couldn't see anything anyways I'd just let myself rest. I heard Kade and Sebastian settle down somewhere across the room. Whatever I was laying on was warm and cushioned. I felt my cheeks flush as I realized what I was lying on—Scar.

"Um...Scar? What are you doing?"

I got no response. I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt his hand on my waist holding me to him.

"Okay, buddy, what the hell are you doing to her?!" said Kade, quite loudly. I moaned in pain, hoping that my noise would alert her to my pain—obviously it didn't work as well as I had hoped.

Scar growled, sensing that her speaking hurt me.

"Don't you growl at me you ugly, creepy alien freak!" I moaned again, her voice was getting louder.

"Kade, hush. Can't you see that's hurting her?" said Sebastian gently.

"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry Briana!" she exclaimed, very loudly at that. I moaned in agony, a little louder this time, because my head felt like it was about to split open. Somehow I managed to hear Sebastian whisper to Kade, "How about we go wait somewhere else. She's pretty sensitive to noise, and you seem to have a tendency to talk a little loudly."

She grumbled, but I soon heard her and Sebastian leaving. I relaxed into my alien cushion and closed my eyes again. I felt his hand tighten around my waist—feeling a little protective? Without realizing it, I turned over and nuzzled my face into his chest...bad idea. My face was met with cold, hard, armor. Groaning, I tried to roll back over—Scar seemed not to like that idea. His grip tightened again, preventing me from moving. Figuring fighting him was no option in my current condition I just relaxed and closed my eyes. I fell asleep listening to him purring and rubbing my back.

**Kade Cruz**

Sebastian led me to the building next door. I stayed quiet, feeling bad for being so ignorant and causing Briana additional pain. I prayed to any God I knew that she would be okay; when she had opened her eyes there was this scary blank look in them, a look uncannily reminiscent of blind eyes. Pushing the thought to the back of my mind I sat down next to Sebastian and cuddled up to him.

"You're freezing." He said, worry evident in his words.

"Yea, I know. Thank you Captain Obvious." I said grumpily, which didn't seem to surprise Sebastian. He seemed to have figured me out pretty quickly. I heard him unzip his jacket.

"Come here." he said, gently enveloping me in his warm embrace. I snuggled up to his hard, warm chest. Deciding to tease him, I ran my fingers softly over his thin shirt, feeling all of the contours of his chest. He seemed to like it, because he let a little moan escape his kissable lips. Remembering our earlier engagement while waiting for the signal I got an idea. I looked him in the eyes, a devious smile playing across my lips. He gave me a questioning look as I placed my head back on his chest. I started placing little feather light kisses on his chest. I moved all over, on his pecks, his abs and his tummy. Moving upwards, I started kissing his neck, making him let another moan escape; bet that he was cursing himself for that one. Then again, he was a guy, he was probably quite happy in his new situation. Unfortunately for me, he wasn't being very patient. Practically ripping off his jacket, he flipped me over so that he was on top of me—figures, men. Without waiting, he crashed his lips onto mine. He occupied his hands by unbuttoning my shirt, again. Getting excited, he shoved his tongue into my mouth without bothering to ask silent permission. Without breaking the kiss, he reached down and started undoing his pants. My eyes widened, this was going _way_ too far. We had only met yesterday; I don't care how hot he was, this was not going to happen. I prayed that the helicopter would come soon, if not, I wasn't so sure that I could stop him.

Reaching down, he was about to unzip my pants when I broke the kiss and placed my palm on his chest.

"Wait. I really like you and all, but this is going _way_ too fast. We met yesterday."

Sebastian looked slightly hurt, and I debated whether or not stopping him was the best idea. He was about to say something when the sound of the chopper filled the air. As we made a mad scramble to get all our clothes on, I turned to him, "I really do think I'm falling for you, but it's just too soon. I really am sorry if I've hurt you." I turned my head away from him, not really wanting to see his face.

"I know, actually, I'm glad you stopped me. If we had...well, you know, we would have regretted it later."

Turning back, I smiled and gave him a quick kiss before running outside. We were going to finally get out of here, I just wasn't ready for what I saw when I walked out. The chopper had landed, and one of the ship's crew members was shouting at us, waving frantically trying to get us to hurry up. However, it was not the chopper that shocked me, but the craft that was materializing next to it. At first, the air near the chopper started to shimmer and then out of nowhere, a large what I guessed to be a spaceship, appeared out of thin air. I gasped, freezing in my place. I wasn't sure what to make of this new situation, and soon heard heavy footsteps approaching. I turned my head and saw the strange creature that Briana had named Scar walking towards the ship that had just materialized out of thin air. In his arms was Briana, hanging limply from his arms and breathing evenly. She was clearly asleep, but I wasn't sure what to do now. Briana had to come with me on the chopper; there was no other way for her to get home, but Scar didn't look like he was going to give her up anytime soon. His arm was wrapped protectively around her, which I found extremely unnerving. Scar stopped a good ten feet away from the ship and shook Briana gently, attempting to wake her up. Her eyelids fluttered open, revealing dark brown eyes, still foggy with sleep. She muttered something incoherent before turning her face into Scar's chest and drifting off again. Scar shook her again, and this time she muttered a string of curses before rolling out of his grip and onto her feet. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she looked at the ship before her in awe. She whispered something to Scar, who purred and clicked in response.

Briana turned around to face Sebastian and me, a sad confused look plastered onto her normally mellow face. After swatting away Scar's hands, she took a few shaky steps towards me. She managed to get herself together and walked to me with a slight limp. She grabbed my arm and held on as though I would leave if she let go.

"What's happening?" she asked quietly, her voice hoarse and scratchy.

"It's time to go home Bri." I said quietly, Bri was a nickname I had given her years ago, and very rarely used. She shook her head and whined, something I had never heard her do in my life.

"I know that, but which home am _I_ going to?"

I looked at her strangely, as though she was sprouting another head.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean? What home are _you_ going to? The only home you have of course."

She shook her head, "You don't understand Kade, and you never have. I have a place with Scar now. I saved his life, and he saved mine. We're bound, and if I so choose, I have a place on his planet with his people."

I snorted; she had obviously hit her head harder than I had originally thought, "Okay Bri, whatever you say. You hit your head pretty badly, and you need some rest. Just come with me and Sebastian onto the chopper, and we'll get you all fixed up."

With a speed I had never seen, her hand snapped around and slapped me hard across the cheek, "Shut up! You don't understand! I'm totally sane right now, and I don't need your pathetic attempts at help. I'm confused! You've been my best and closest friend as long as I can remember, and I've spent practically my entire life with you up to this point; but now, there's this amazing opportunity waiting for me. I could go with Scar and learn about his people. That's not an offer you get every day, nor will I ever get it again in my lifetime. He won't be coming back for another hundred years!"

By now, little streams of salty tears were dripping down her face. In all the years I had been with her, I had never seen Briana cry. Briana Mars did _not_ cry in front of others. She swiped at the tears angrily and turned towards Sebastian.

"She really loves you, whether or not you believe it. You have to promise me that you'll take care of her, okay?"

Sebastian looked utterly lost for words, as a sad recognition crossed over his dark features.

"Alright, I promise," he said sadly, realizing what this meant.

I looked at her, angry that she wanted to leave me. After all that we had been through, now she wanted to leave me. I was angry, and furious, and confused, and most of all, I was sad. I was sad that my best friend was going to leave me behind while she went on a grand adventure. It was like salt and pepper, but the salt was all gone.

"Why are you so eager to leave me?" I asked, my voice coming out strangled and gravely. Briana looked at me sadly, and in a moment I walked forward and extended my arm, ready to slap her with all my might, but before I could muster the strength, she grabbed my arm and pushed it to my side.

"Kade, listen to me. This is not easy for me to do. You've been my friend since the beginning, and we've been through countless challenges together, but look at your life, Kade. Our time together has been one chapter in our lives, and now there's a new chapter waiting for us, we just have to choose to start it. You can go and start a life with Sebastian, and you'll be happy together. You can settle down, start a family, and be in love. You don't need me to help you be happy."

I looked at her, seeing her eyes start to water again. I felt my own start to water, and blinked quickly, trying to hold them back.

"What about you?" I finally managed to choke out.

She smiled sadly, "I'll go with Scar, meet his people and learn their ways. It'll be the greatest adventure of a lifetime. The adventure I've been waiting for my entire life, the adventure I've been dreaming about since I was a kid."

Without a moment's hesitation, I walked forward and pulled her into a hug, which she returned. We just stood there, hugging each other, our final goodbye. Finally, we parted. Tears were dripping down her face like a leaky faucet, and I could feel the tears streaming down my own.

"So this is goodbye?" I asked, knowing her answer already.

"This is goodbye…forever. We aren't going to see each other again you know."

Her voice was sad, and sounded strangled, like it took energy to get the words out. A fresh wave of tears spilt down our faces, and I nodded slowly.

"I know, this is our last goodbye, so goodbye my friend. You've been the best support system and friend anyone could ask for, and I'll never forget you."

"You too, I might even miss your long tirades about random guys."

We laughed, but it was dry and forced. I faintly heard the crew member in the chopper calling for us to hurry up, apparently Scar and the ship had cloaked themselves. The air by Briana's shoulder shimmered, and she looked up behind her, smiling sadly; I knew Scar was trying to comfort her. Giving her one final hug goodbye, I turned towards the chopper and started walking slowly, dragging my feet. Sebastian helped me up, and I sat in my seat, preparing for the long flight home. As we took off, I looked down, squinting through my teary eyes, and saw Briana waving goodbye, Scar behind her with a green hand on her shoulder. Though I couldn't see her face, I knew she was crying. The ship appeared and I watched as she disappeared into an invisible speck, soon joined by the entire continent of Antarctica. I prepared myself for what was going to lie ahead, and let the memories I had of her flow freely throughout my mind.


End file.
